Quote Originally Posted by IsobelWren
Thanks for lending me your perspective on this and for appreciating what I was actually trying to say! It's hard for a white person to comment on the issue of anything pertaining to other races, because I know I don't know anything about it from the inside, the important view, and can only comment on it from the outside...which is often unappreciated, and can come off as insensitive or stupid, since, being on the outside, I don't know all the feelings, thoughts and issues. Yes, I was definitely trying to say that she shouldn't be made to feel like she HAS to change her hair or do all that crazy, expensive wigs/straighteners, etc. I wanted her to know that there are lots of people who find natural hair beautiful and she shouldn't feel that the way she comes naturally, out of the box, is bad or unattractive. I was trying, in a one woman, one comment, to break the cycle of cultural stigma and propaganda.
....probably, "sick of it" wasn't the best phrase, I'd just edited and re-edited and wrote and cut the comment so many times already that I was irritated with myself and just pressed play already.
Would you mind if I C&Ped our exchange in the thread? I think that what you said came off caring and supportive, and I don't think that anyone would feel you're starting drama. If you feel this way, probably lots of other viewers do too and they could benefit from this exchange.
And yes, not all straight hair is fake. I'm just talking about the feeling that one HAS to "correct" kinky hair to fit with the dominant standard. I want to say I, at the very least, do not buy into that standard. A parallel I made in one of the edited posts I didn't make was that of coming out as gay. The more people know they know someone who is gay, the more likely they are to support gay-friendly policy and legislation. I'm all for visibility, it's hard and it doesn't always work (which, among other things, is why I never said it), but I think that if more people reflected diversity instead of bending to the dominant standard, the dominant standard would become weakened and change or evaporate as people became exposed to diversity and realize there's nothing wrong with it.
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